Most businesses have failed to learn from all the other competitive disciplines before them. You fight one competitor at a time, and you develop a strategy that beats competitors one at a time. There is no competition – there are only competitors.

I tried to understand why so many businesses fail to build competitor-specific strategies. I believe this is based on three reasons. First is the real lack of strategy at the brand level. I believe that while strategy is widely employed in plotting the future of the firm in terms of what businesses to buy, what countries to enter or what resources to own, little strategic attention is given to how one brand will beat another brand in the market.